CIRA is a recognized hub for training, career development and mentorship of diverse scholars through growth of national training programs like Yale AIDS Prevention Training Program (Y-APT) and Research Education Institute for Diverse Scholars (REIDS). This recent compilation of achievements by our fellows, former and current, provides only a snapshot of some of the remarkable research being done.
Yale AIDS Prevention Training Program (Y-APT):
-
Marie Brault was awarded a K01 grant, "Engaging Providers, Community Members, And Young Women to Adapt and Pilot A Youth-Friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health Package in Low-Income Communities in India" from Fogerty International Center. Dr. Brault is an Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) at the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH). Currently, her work is focused on improving adolescent-friendly approaches to sexual and reproductive health in clinical and community settings, both in the US and internationally. 
Skyler Jackson was awarded a K01 grant, "Intersectional Stigma, Mental Health, and HIV Risk Among US Gay and Bisexual Men of Color" from the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Jackson is an Associate Research Scientist at YSPH. His research focuses on the ways individuals' social identities (e.g., race, gender, sexual orientation) shape their everyday lives and influence health and well-being. In particular, he is interested in how experiences of stigma--if not adequately coped with--interfere with psychological functioning and contribute to health disparities.
Allecia Reid was awarded a K01, "Promoting Maintenance of Behavior Change Following Brief Alcohol Intervention" from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Dr. Reid is an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research aims to both understand the psychological, social, and environmental factors that relate to health behaviors and to improve the design of health promotion interventions.
Adam Viera, has received a National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for his dissertation research entitled "Developing e-Covery: An App-Based Intervention to Support Recovery from Co-occurring Alcohol Use and Opioid Use." This is a three-year award totaling $106,304. Dr. Trace Kershaw is his advisor. Adam is a Ph.D. student in YSPH's SBS Department. Currently, he is working on a pair of research projects with Dr. Robert Heimer. The first of these projects centers on the development and pilot testing of an intervention to prevent hepatitis C virus (HCV) reinfection among persons in treatment for HCV. The other project is an evaluation of the outcomes associated with continuation of methadone during incarceration among individuals with opioid use disorder.
Shannon Whittaker, a 2nd year Ph.D. student also in YSPH's SBS Department, has been named a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar. This is a four-year award totaling $124,000. Dr. Danya Keene is her advisor. Shannon's research interests lie at the intersection of place, race, and health where she studies how social and political processes such as gentrification and redlining impact the health of marginalized communities of color.
Tiara C. Willie, PhD, MA has been appointed Assistant Professor of American Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. This is an endowed position supported by the Bloomberg American Health Initiative through a gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies. Dr. Willie is a social epidemiologist examining the etiology and health consequences of gender-based violence among populations at risk of or currently experiencing violence, domestically and globally.
Research Education Institute for Diverse Scholars (REIDS):
Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha was named a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 2020 Interdisciplinary Research Leader for her joint research project, "Promoting Maternal Health Equity through Collaborative Community Partnerships: Teaming doulas, providers and families to create birth equity". Dr. Amutah-Onukagha is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. Her primary research focuses on mother-daughter communication, HIV prevention, and treatment for women of color. - Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha was awarded an RO1, "Reducing Racial Disparities in severe maternal mortality Post Covid19: Assessing The Integration Of Maternal Safety Bundles And Community Based Doulas To Improve Outcomes For Black Women" from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
Steven Meanley was awarded an Administrative Supplement through Penn Mental Health AIDS Research Center, "Adapting and expanding a high-impact social media-delivered sexual health promotion intervention (Project iMPPACS) to African American youth in Philadelphia County" as part of the Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America program. Dr. Meanley’s research focuses on disparities in HIV and co-morbid conditions (e.g., STIs and mental health) that negatively impact communities from socially-disadvantaged backgrounds.
Dr. Ijeoma Opara received an NIH Director's Early Independence Award for her project, "Understanding the Role of Neighborhoods on Urban Youths Substance Use and Mental Health: A Community-Based Substance Abuse Prevention". Dr. Opara is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the School of Social Welfare, SUNY Stony Brook University. Her research involves using strengths-based approaches to HIV/AIDS, STI, and drug use prevention for adolescent girls of color.
Raquel Ramos, FNP-BC MBA MSN PhD, an Assistant Professor at New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing, was awarded pilot funding from the NHLBI-funded PRIDE-CVD program for her study: "Formative Development of a Multi-level, Community-engagement Protocol to Prevent HIV-related Comorbidities in Sexual Minority Men of Color." Dr. Ramos's program of research focuses on prevention of HIV-related comorbidities, such as CVD and metabolic disease in sexual minority men of color using technology as a tool to support informed decision making.
Published: Tuesday, October 13, 2020
